To Drill or not to Drill???

gpkozmp

gpkozmp

Member
I have a wet/dry filter that came with my 100 gallon and I was wondering about drilling it. I found someone in town that will do it for $60.00 and well he said the only bit he has is a 1" so I would need about 3 holes. With that I am confused kinda.
1) If I drill the back of the tank would that be okay for the wet/dry or would I need to get a sump?
2) If I go with a sump, how big for a 100 gallon?
If anybody has any picture's of their plumbing I would like it if you share your picture's so I can see what is going on and where everything runs and should go.
 
gpkozmp

gpkozmp

Member
Okay I am going to end up putting some fish in there and some coral's and well I just want it to look really nice the idea I have right now for drilling the tank is to drill the holes in back, top, center and well I am going to have the rock formation around it. Like I said I am wanting to make it a nice tank that people will enjoy looking at. My idea is that when I am done with setting it up, that I can invite people over and it be a converstaion starter or peice.
SCSInet, thank you very much cause just about everytime I post something you help me out with a lot of good advice. Thanks to all that have and will help me.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
I have right now for drilling the tank is to drill the holes in back, top, center
why not just drill the bottom
 
gpkozmp

gpkozmp

Member
I was told that anything over 55gal is usually tmepered on the bottom and a lot of places will not drill that for me. So that is why I decided to drill the back. Also if you do try to drill the bottom when it is tempered most likely it will crack. That is just what I heard, I would love to drill the bottom and if I can find someone to do it for me and do a good job I will do it.
 
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flukes

Guest
I am all for drilling, and a sump is an awesome addition to any saltwater tank. It is not as hard as you might think. glass-holes is a great place to buy overflows and return kits, they even include the bits to drill your tank. Here is a picture of the plumbing on my 90 gallon tank, I hope that it helps. If you do use the overflow from glass-holes your overflow will be much higher than what I have in this picture.
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
BTW I believe a 1/2 inch bulkhead requires a 1 1/8 inch hole. I think you may have to go elsewhere to get your tank drilled
 
florida joe

florida joe

Well-Known Member
Originally Posted by Flukes
http:///forum/post/3174938
I am all for drilling, and a sump is an awesome addition to any saltwater tank. It is not as hard as you might think. glass-holes is a great place to buy overflows and return kits, they even include the bits to drill your tank. Here is a picture of the plumbing on my 90 gallon tank, I hope that it helps. If you do use the overflow from glass-holes your overflow will be much higher than what I have in this picture.
How are you running your returns ? can you post a pic of the inside of your tank
 
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flukes

Guest
Hi Joe, yes I have picture of the inside as well. I build a durso standpipe on this tank and built my own overflow.




 
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flukes

Guest
The returns are on the top of each side, I now use lineloc to direct the flow into the tank
 
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flukes

Guest
Hello Posiden,
At the time of building this setup I thought that I would have needed the extra room to setup the standpipe.
Hi Joe,
Thank you, this setup did work out just fine and Im very happy with it, but if I had to redo it I would have bought the overflow kit from glass-holes. I spent a ton of time and extra money building it this way. I just built a smaller 20 gallon tank using this kit and it works great. I saved money because it included the drill bits and I didn't have to pay the glass shop to drill it for me. They charged me $25 a hole.
Uuuummm Joe I'm not sure what you mean by "single lung" behind my tank, I am a smoker and I could be down to one lung now LOL. I'm guessing that you are referring to the bikes, one is a suzuki gs 1000 and the other is a suzuki gs 550.
Anywho, I am just wanting to help gpkozmp and give him/her some ideas and not to hijack there thread with my past projects, thou I do like to share.
 
davebrace5533

davebrace5533

New Member
definately drill it. the sides though not the bottom. most glass tanks larger than 75gal the bottoms are tempered and will shatter if you try to drill it. the drilling process is way easy.
1: 4oz tub of plumbers putty-$4.95
2: 1-3" diamond hole saw-$4-8.00
3: mark the tank where you want the holes and lay a thick blanket inside the tank to catch the hole when it falls.
4: place plumbers putty in a circle around the marked area and fill with water.
5: with handheld drill at 45degree angle set against glass and hold firmly. do not push on the drill, let the saw do the work.
6: hear a laud grinding noise and think "i just broke my tank..." no you didn't that is the saw grinding through the glass.
7: after you have a groove cut into the glass slowly begin tilting the drill to a straight up and down 90 degrees. again don't push down but let the saw do the work.
8: let the saw grind through for about 7-10 minutes and grind out the hole.
9: step back and say "that was easy, what else is made of glass around here?"
 
gpkozmp

gpkozmp

Member
Flukes:
Thanks for the help and I know your not trying to hijack and to be honest I learn better from other's sharing their things, thank you a lot and it help me very much so. FYI, I'm a him...
davebrace5533:
Thanks for the instructions, step by step, I read that on glass-holes and well it is a great site to learn from.
For everyone, I have gone to my LFS and talked with them last night and they told me I can bring my tank in and drill it myself and pay $5 a hole and I would need 2 so $10 is a lot better than $60, so I am debating on doing that. Also at that LFS they have overflow kits that you can buy, I saw them yesterday and I didn't get to look at the price but I might end up getting that as well. Not 100% sure at this point but I have time. I am going to be emptying the tank of the sand he left in there with the little bit of water as well.
I haven't looked online for a kit but I will be here soon, where is a good place to go to get one?
 
gpkozmp

gpkozmp

Member
I was one glass-holes and I was looking at their kits you can buy and well I was thinking about getting one in due time but I was wondering what size I should get the 700gph or the 1500gph? With that what is a good one for a 100 gallon tank? Thank you for all your help everyone, you have all been helpful.
 
gpkozmp

gpkozmp

Member
Originally Posted by Flukes
http:///forum/post/3174938
I am all for drilling, and a sump is an awesome addition to any saltwater tank. It is not as hard as you might think. glass-holes is a great place to buy overflows and return kits, they even include the bits to drill your tank. Here is a picture of the plumbing on my 90 gallon tank, I hope that it helps. If you do use the overflow from glass-holes your overflow will be much higher than what I have in this picture.
what size piping is that on your 90 gallon?
How big were the holes you drilled for them?
 
posiden

posiden

Active Member
Originally Posted by gpkozmp
http:///forum/post/3175479
what size piping is that on your 90 gallon?
How big were the holes you drilled for them?
This depends on the type of bulkhead you buy. I drilled a 2 3/8" hole in my 75 for a 1 1/4" bulkhead. I am going to use SCH 80 bulkheads. If I use the standard aquarium bulkheads, I can put in one for 1 1/2" pipe.
 
gpkozmp

gpkozmp

Member
Originally Posted by Posiden
http:///forum/post/3175499
This depends on the type of bulkhead you buy. I drilled a 2 3/8" hole in my 75 for a 1 1/4" bulkhead. I am going to use SCH 80 bulkheads. If I use the standard aquarium bulkheads, I can put in one for 1 1/2" pipe.
So if I buy a kit from glass-holes, I wouldn't have to worry about the bulkhead and hole size, I would just have to get the right size piping from there on out?
 
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flukes

Guest
Hello gpkozmp,
Posiden is right on about the hole size and the bulkhead. I would buy the 1500 overflow for your 100 gallon tank but that doesn't mean that you have to have that much flow. I would think that 700-800 gph would work nicely and your return pump is what will dictate your flow.
If you do buy from glass-holes you don't have to about the hole size for the bulkheads, it comes with drill bit that you need.
 
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